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Saturday, November 1, 2014

Impressions #18: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Lately, I have been going back and playing old Shin Megami Tensei
RPGs that I, for various reasons, missed back in the day. Dubbed the
“season of ATLUS” by yours truly, this has been dominating much
of my free time. The most recent game I completed in this process is
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Released in 2003, Nocturne (Lucifer's
Call in Europe) in pretty infamous in the JRPG community, with a very
noticeable cult following. Like other SMT games, it has cultivated a
reputation for difficulty. Though some will find it more or less
difficult than others, my experience lends more credence to this
reputation than other SMT games that I have played.

But before we get into any of that, I want to take a minute to
discuss the game's plot and premise. A shadowy organization has
decided that the current direction taken by humanity has resulted in
a bleak and depressing existence. To that end, they take steps to end
the world, using it as a basis to form a new one, in an event
referred to as The Conception. This is where the protagonist comes
in. The player assumes the role of a Japanese high school student
who, by some blunder of fate, managed to survive The Conception.
Afterwards, Lucifer (Yes, THAT Lucifer) takes an interest in him, and
implants in him what is known as a Magatama, a parasitic life form
comprised of pure demonic power. As a result, the protagonist is
transformed into a half-human, half-demon entity called the
Demi-Fiend.

In the Vortex World created by The Conception, demons are allowed to
roam freely. There are only a few lucky humans who remained alive. It
is these humans who have the ability to create the new world. In
order to do this, certain steps need to be taken. First, they must
resolve themselves to a philosophy on which the new world will be
based on. This Reason, as it is known, can be taken from another
person or conceived as an original belief. Then, enough creation
energy must be gathered by them in order to summon a deity, to
represent that Reason. After every represented Reason has battled it
out, the winning belief will be used to create the new world.

Since the protagonist is a demon, he cannot create a Reason of his
own. However, he is free to choose to support or oppose any Reason
that has already been established. The player, in this capacity, will
determine which, if any, of the Reasons will emerge victorious.
Through the choices made, and the alliances formed, they gain and
lose reputation with the various three factions, each representing
their own Reason. At the end, it is this which determines whether or
not the protagonist is in support of any Reason. Should the player
decide to reject all three reasons, then their personality, as
represented by their choices, is what will determine the new world.

While this may have been an interesting concept in 2003, most modern
gamers are already extremely familiar with the concept of narrative
choice. It worked, but it honestly was not all that interesting. This
was from a time when such ideas had been relatively unexplored, so
this is to be expected. Still, people playing Nocturne from a modern
perspective might find this whole plot disappointing. Even the
characters are not really that well written. Most of them are jerks
and most of them have absolutely no reason to be. The story had
potential to go in some really interesting directions, but failed to
do so. Ultimately, while there are some interesting elements, the
plot is mainly used to justify the gameplay and dungeon crawling,
barely able to stand on its own.

As for the combat, SMT: Nocturne was the very first game to utilize
the Press Turn System that most SMT games would come to utilize at
some point. I have already detailed the basics of this system in my
Digital
DevilSaga
Impressions articles. Playing this game, it becomes apparent that
this is only the start of a system that would be greatly refined and
reinterpreted in many ways. Unlike Digital Devil Saga, turn order is
determined purely by the Agility stat, with the fastest going first
and so on. Further, the combination attacks that proved so useful in
Digital Devil Saga were noticeably absent here. Aside from that, I
have discussed the system enough, and have no real need to talk more
about it. Nocturne served as a great proof-of-concept for the system,
which would later become a fundamental groundwork for combat in ATLUS
RPGs.

Another interesting note of comparison lies in the way character and
party development works in Nocturne, compared to other SMT games.
Unlike Digital Devil Saga (but like most), the player party consists
primarily of demons. In order to get these demons to join the party,
it is necessary to negotiate with them. During the course of the
battle, on the turn of either the protagonist's or a demon with a
conversation skill, the player can attempt to talk to a demon in the
enemy party. In the first phase of the conversation, the player will
need to convince the demon to like him. Should that be a success,
then the demon will make requests. Appease it, and it will either
join the player, give an item, or retreat from battle. Failure will
result in an enraged demon, causing the enemy's turn to start. In
this way, there is always an element of risk involved with
negotiations. Mitigating and accepting this risk by eliminating
enemies before striking up conversation is as important as the actual
act of talking.

Having said that, the demons gained through conversation are still
pretty weak. The true way to gain a powerful party is through Fusion.
At special locations referred to as Cathedrals of Shadow, the player
can combine two demons into a new one. The result will have their own
skills, but will also inherit some of its predecessors'. During
specific times, a Sacrificial Fusion can also be done. Along with the
original two demons, a third can be sacrificed. Depending on the
strength of the third, the result will rise in power. Skills from
this final demon can also be inherited by the result. Like in other
SMT games, this process of Fusion is the key to maintaining a strong
party throughout the game.

However, there are elements that clearly demonstrate the dated
nature of this particular beast. For example, as earlier SMT games
were known to do, Nocturne tends to rely far too heavily on random
number generators. The specific skills that a fused demon will
inherit is determined by a roll of the dice. I often found myself
deselecting and reselecting fusions over and over in order to attempt
to get the skills I wanted on my party member. Old SMT gamers
probably will not mind that. On the other hand, people who have grown
accustom to selecting inherited skills in games like Persona 4 Golden
might be less inclined to go back. For better or worse, it is a very
noticeable throwback.

As a demon, the protagonist also develops his own skills, albeit at
a much faster rate than others. However, he does it differently.
Throughout the game, players will acquire different Magatama, which
confer different resistances and skills to the protagonist. Upon
level up, should the protagonist be at a sufficient level, he will
learn a skill from the Magatama. Like other SMT games, only 8 skills
can be equipped at a time. To learn a new skill, one of the previous
ones needs to be forgotten. Unlike Digital Devil Saga, there is no
going back. Once a skill has been unequipped, it cannot be relearned.
This can often result in making difficult decisions, because making
the wrong choices on not only what skills to keep, but in what order
they are learned, can quickly put the player at a disadvantage. The
freedom to choose from any previously learned skills did not yet
exist. Again, the dated-ness of the design very clearly shows.

And that is the ultimate problem with Nocturne. While it was a
fantastic game at the time, and still continues to be very fun, it
has been succeeded quite thoroughly by later works from ATLUS. It is
a game that over 10 years old. Showing that age, it serves as an
interesting data point to compare other JRPGs with. Moreover, classic
SMT fans, eternally looking for challenging and varied battles
against demons, would be well served playing Nocturne. I myself would
be lying if I said that I hated the game. I enjoyed my 60 hour
playthrough. Though a second playthrough seems unlikely, I would not
completely rule it out. That said, people who have come to know the
modern conveniences of ATLUS design in games like Persona 4 Golden
might be put off from the old school design philosophies that went
into it. This is what one would refer to as a “niche” game, even
by ATLUS standards. Keep that in mind if you intend to try it out.